Micron price target hiked to $66 from $55 by Mizuho Securities

Micron Technology Inc. shares surged Monday after one analyst nearly doubled his price target on the stock. Micron shares rallied nearly 12% to $60.87 at last check. Instinet analyst Romit Shah, who raised his rating on Micron to buy from reduce back in June 2016, raised his price target to $100 from $55. "We see DRAM pricing resuming an upward trend in Q2, a first-time dividend and share buyback announcement in May, continued margin expansion in NAND and increased M&A discussion as important catalysts," Shah said. Of the 31 analysts who cover Micron, 27 have buy ratings, three have hold ratings, and one has a sell rating, according to FactSet data. Following Shah's target hike, analysts had an average price target of $61.89 on the stock.

Shares of Micron Technology Inc. are up 1.2% in Thursday morning trading after analysts at KeyBanc Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock to $65 from $53. The analysts, led by Wes Twigg, now anticipate sequential ASP declines of 2% for the fiscal third and fourth quarters, less than the 3% declines they'd previously predicted. "DRAM demand remains very high, and contract pricing has continued to increase this year amid persistent undersupply," Twigg wrote. "While we expect new supply to come online later this year, we expect bit supply to remain below demand for most of the year, and pricing could continue to increase." In general, the analysts see "relatively healthy memory markets over the midterm to long term." Micron shares are up 113% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 is up 15% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is up 43%.

Shares of Micron Technology Inc. are up 2.1% in premarket trading and on track to open at a 17 1/2 year high. Tuesday after analysts at Goldman Sachs raised their price target and quarterly estimates due to their belief that DRAM pricing continues to rise. The analysts, led by Mark Delaney, think that Micron looks well positioned heading into its March 22 earnings report given that DRAM supply appears constrained, which is expected to drive up average selling prices further. They wrote that 32 GB server modules are selling for about $310 to $315 now, up from $300 in mid-January. The team at Goldman Sachs raised their price target to $58 from $55 and have a buy rating on the stock. Micron shares are up 102% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 Index is up 15% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is up 41%.

Shares of Micron Technology Inc. soared 6.3% in active afternoon trade Monday, putting them on course to close at a 17 1/2-year high, boosted by broad strength in the semiconductor sector and the broad-market rally. The stock traded above the $50 mark for the first time since Sept. 28, 2000. Volume of 57.7 million shares was enough to make the stock the most actively traded on the Nasdaq exchange. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index rallied 1.1%, the technology-friendly Nasdaq 100 climbed 1.2% and the S&P 500 rose 1.2%. Micron's stock has run up 27% over the past three months, while the chip-sector tracker (SOX) has rallied 12% and the S&P 500 has gained 3.6%.

U.S. stocks are higher early Monday, shrugging off renewed political uncertainty surrounding trade policy. Against this backdrop, the Nasdaq Composite has rallied from trendline support, preserving its recovery attempt, while the S&P 500 has narrowly maintained major support, rising from last week’s close of 2,691.

Tech stocks were the one bright spot in February as the broader market got hammered and the sector was on track to be the only monthly gainer on the S&P 500 index . The S&P 500's tech sector, which is the largest of the benchmark's 11 sectors at a $7 trillion market cap, was on track for a 0.7% gain for February, and is up 8.3% for the year. In comparison, the S&P 500 was tracking at a 3% loss for February, and is up 2.5% for the year. With a few hours of February trading to go, shares of Apple Inc. have gained nearly 7% for the month, while shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. have rallied 15%, Red Hat Inc. shares have gained 13%, Micron Technology Inc. shares are up 11%, and Cisco Systems Inc. shares have rallied 9%. Financials are on track to be the second best performing sector in February, running at a 1.6% decline, and energy stocks are faring the worst with the sector down nearly 10% for the month.

Intel Corp. shares reached their highest prices since the dot-com bust Tuesday morning, after a Citibank analyst named it the top chip stock to target in 2018. Citi analyst Christopher Danely reportedly moved Intel from No.3 on his semiconductors list to No. 1 and compared the stock favorably to Micron Technology Inc. in early 2017; Micron stock nearly doubled in 2017 and was one of the biggest winners in the tech sector. Danely noted that other chip makers have reported solid demand from businesses, which is where Intel tends to dominate, according to reports. Intel shares reached a high of $50.90 early in Tuesday's trading session, their highest intraday price since 2000, and were trading more than 2% higher in early morning trading as the S&P 500 index and Dow Jones Industrial Average showed slight declines.

Micron Technology continues to be the star of the chip stocks, with its shares more than doubling in the past year alone. And to add more fuel to the fire, one analyst came out last week with the most bullish call in the history of the stock.

Micron Technology Inc.

Micron Technology, Inc. engages in the designs and building of semiconductor memory and storage technologies. It operates through the following segments: Compute and Networking Business Unit, Storage Business Unit, Mobile Business Unit, and Embedded Business Unit. The Compute and Networking Business Unit segment includes memory products sold into compute, networking, graphics, and cloud server markets. The Storage Business Unit segment comprises memory and storage products sold into enterprise, client, cloud, and removable storage. The Mobile Business Unit segment consists of memory products sold into smart phone, tablet, and other mobile-device markets. The Embedded Business Unit segment involves in the memory products sold into automotive, industrial, connected home, and consumer electronics markets. The company was founded by Ward D. Parkinson, Joseph L. Parkinson, Dennis Wilson, and Doug Pitman in October 1978 and is headquartered in Boise, ID.
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